Committees round-up: Daily

There are ||||| bodies in focus of our committee scan today:

Committee on Legal Policy

At its 9 April sitting, the committee reviewed two bills:

• Bill No.3112 on amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On enforcement proceedings” (as to enforcer’s responsibility to undertake for indexation of a child support amount mandated by court in a set sum of money);

• Bill No.3206 on amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine regarding a simplified procedure for hearing cases relating to protection of children’s rights. The committee unanimously decided to recommend that the parliament include both bills in its third session agenda.

MPs also supported a proposal for additional funding of the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine and called on the Committee on Budget to consider this in a bill amending the Law of Ukraine "On the state budget of Ukraine for 2020".

Committee on Ukraine’s Integration into EU

At its 10 April sitting, the committee considered a range of draft legislations through the lens of their EU law and AA (Association Agreement) compliance.

As EU law-AA compliant, there were recognized the following bills:

• Bill No.2424 on amendments to the Air Code of Ukraine as to improving the mechanism for levying public dues on every passenger leaving Ukraine and every ton of cargo that arrives or leaves a Ukrainian airport.

• Bill No.3267 on amendments to certain laws of Ukraine in connection with the unbundling of electricity transmission activities. The main task of the bill is to legally regularize the certification of electricity transmission system operators through the ISO separation model.

• Bill No.2064 on amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine regarding promoting the development of Ukraine’s winegrowing.

• Bill No.2805 on amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine concerning the functioning and circulation of agrarian receipts. The document proposes to define the legal nature of agrarian receipts as a security, to expand the number of receipts issuers and to simplify the procedures of issuance, circulation and termination of agrarian receipts.

• Bill No.3205 (and the bill No.3205-1 as the alternate) regarding the Fund for partial credit guarantees in rural economy. Both draft legislations envisage the formation of a fund designed to assist small and medium-sized farmers in obtaining bank loans.

• Bill No.3133 on amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine aimed to boost the anti-graft fight in some law enforcement and state agencies.

• Bill No.2735 on amendments to certain legislative acts regulating drug prices. The purpose of the bill is to take measures to more severely regulate and then reduce drug prices in Ukraine. The bill encharges the Cabinet of Ministers with establishing a ceiling for wholesale and retail product margins for drugs and medical goods, then pegging them down in parallel to a narrow corridor of 7 and 15% correspondingly. It was then underlined, the pricing should be subject to the approach enjoined by the Council Directive 89/105/EEC of 21 December 1988 relating to the transparency of measures regulating the prices of medicinal products for human use and their inclusion in the scope of national health insurance systems.

• Bill No.0035 on Ukraine’s accession to the Additional Protocol to the Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road (CMR) concerning the Electronic Consignment Note. The document suggests improving the workflow in the field of international road haulage. The bill will help increase the competitiveness of Ukrainian international road hauliers in the international market, enhance the safety of transportation, and expand the opportunities for efficient use of Ukraine's transport potential.

Committee on Agrarian and Land Policy

Following the results of its 10 April sitting, the committee proposed to include some draft laws in the Verkhovna Rada’s agenda:

• Bill No.2064 on amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine regarding promoting the development of Ukraine’s winegrowing. The bill is aimed at creating proper economic and legal conditions conducive to the development of viticulture in Ukraine. It is advisable that the bill be taken on its first reading, the committeemen concluded.

• Bill No.3205 (and the bill No.3205-1 as the alternate) regarding the Fund for partial credit guarantees in rural economy. Both draft legislations envisage the formation of a fund designed to assist small and medium-sized farmers in obtaining bank loans.

Committee on Law Enforcement

The committee recommended that the parliament should heighten the accountability for raising prices on personal protective equipment (PPE).

• At its 10 April sitting, the body saw into the bill No.3274-1 urging to punish those holding PPE prices up during a nationwide martial law or emergency state. As a result of the consideration, the committee advised the parliament to take the above bill.

• The committeemen also re-considered the bill No.3276 amending Section XI "Transitional Provisions" of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine with regard to specificity of judicial control over the observance of the rights, freedoms and interests of individuals in criminal proceedings and consideration of certain issues in court proceedings during the quarantine period (established by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). By a majority, they have agreed to decline the amendments Nos.17 and 18 and then recommended that the parliament take the bill on its second reading and in tote.

Committee on Digital Transformation

At its recent sitting, the committee took up five bills put on the agenda:

• Bill No.0032 drafted to ratify the Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official Documents. Ratification of the convention will bring Ukrainian legislation closer to the norms of European law and international standards in the area of access to information, increase the transparency of Ukraine’s public authorities and confirm its readiness for international cooperation.

• Bill No.0035 on Ukraine’s accession to the Additional Protocol to the Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road (CMR) concerning the Electronic Consignment Note. The document suggests improving the workflow in the field of international road haulage. The bill will help increase the competitiveness of Ukrainian international road hauliers in the international market, enhance the safety of transportation, expand the opportunities for efficient use of Ukraine's transport potential and make new jobs. It is advisable that both of the above bills be taken by the parliament on their first and second readings to emerge as law.

• Bill No.2740 amending UA law so as to protect IT firms from unwarranted interference into their activities and against seizure of their outfit by law enforcers.

• Bill No.3179 regarding rendering legal tools to fight raiding practices and changes to the procedure for giving access to data from the Unified state register of legal entities, individual entrepreneurs and public organizations. The draft bill enables law enforcement authorities and legal counsels of the injured party to more quickly gather evidence and information from registers in order to counter raiding.

• Bill No.3157 concerning parliamentary questions that enables MPs to communicate electronically in order to expedite settling electorate’s issues. Following the discussion, the committee suggested that the parliament take the bills Nos.2740, 3179 and 3157 on the first reading.